Operating mechanism for mine-shaft doors



H.'F. KOHLER. OPERATING MECHANISM FOR MINE SHAFT DOORS. APPLICATION FILED APR.26, 1921.

Patented Jan. 10, 192 2.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 SHhETS-SHEET 2- Patented Jan, 10, 1922.

%% K mks H. F. KOHLER. OPERATING MECHANISM FOR MlNE SHAFT DOORS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 26, 1921.

PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY F. KOHLER, OF DUNLO, PENNSYLVANIA.

i OPERATING MECHANISM FOR MINE-SHAFT DOORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 10, 15922.

Application .filed April 26, 1921. Serial No. 464,677.

T 0 all 20 item it may concern:

Be it known that I, ILLRRY F. KoHLnR, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of Dunlo, in the county of Cambria and State of Pennsylvania, have invent-ed certain new and useful Improvements in Operating Mechanism for Mine- Shaft Doors, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to operating mechanism for doors of mine shafts, although it may be used in connection with elevator shafts of other types.

It is an object of this invention to producenovel means for opening the doors of a mine shaft at diiierent landings, only when the mine car is at the landing where a door is operated, novel means being provided for closing the doors at the time the car leaves the landing having the open door.

It is a further object of this invention to produce novel means for cushioning the movement of the door prior to its reaching a closed position, and it is furthermore an object of the invention to provide means for cushioning the door just prior to its reaching an open position, the said cushioning means being elfective to absorb shock and vibration which would result, should the door or its operating mechanism strike a stationary part prior to its being arrested.

It is a further object of this invention to produce operating mechanism for doors of the character indicated in which'the door actuating element is released by the actuation of a means due to the presence of the elevator car at the landing, novel means being provided for restoring the parts to normal position upon the disappearance ofthe car from the said landing; and it is furthermore an object of thisinvention to produce novel means whereby the operating mechanism is retained at a temperature which will revent freezing.

1th the foregoing and other ob ects in 'view, the invention consists in the details of construction, and in the arrangement and combination of parts to be hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed.

In describing the invention in detail, reference will be had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this application wherein like characters denote corresponding parts in the several views, and in which Figure 1 illustrates a view in elevation showing car doors and the mechanisms in the positions they occupy when one of the doors is closed and another door is open;

Figure 2 illustrates a view of the door operating mechanism in side elevation;

Figure 3 illustrates a sectional View of the shaft showing a mine car in position to trip one of the mechanisms, and the other mechanism released;

Figure 4 illustrates an enlarged detailed sectional view on the line 4t-d of Fig. 3;

Figure 5 illustrates a sectional view of the door operating piston;

Figure 6 illustrates a sectional view on a line corresponding with the line 66 of Fig. 4t; and

Figure 7 illustrates a sectional view on a line corresponding with the line 77 of Fig. 4; and

Figure 8 illustrates a sectional view on a line corresponding with the line 88 of Fig. 4.

In these drawings 10 denotes a car of a mine shaft which will, of course, be elevated and lowered in any conventional manner,

the details of construction of which are immaterial and need not, it is believerd, be shown. The mine car 10 of each shaft will 'be provided with a stationary shoe 11 effec is carried, the said piston rod extending upwardly within a cylinder 20, which depends from a head 21 attached to a girder 22, or other suitable support. The cylinder 20 has a valve 23 near its upper end to permit the gradual escape of air which may be compressed within the cylinder by the ac tion of the piston 24 which'reciprocates in the cylinder, due to the fact that it is carried by the piston rod 18.

Preferably, a rigid member 25 such as a rod extends upwardly from the bracket 16, and it may have a flexible member 26 connected to it, which operates over pulleys 27 supported in any appropriate manner, and the said flexible member may have a suitable eoupling 28 with a piston rod 29, which reciprocates in a cylinder 30, the said cylinder here shown as being supported on the base 31 and rising therefrom. The piston rod 29 is connected to a piston 32 within the cylinder and the said piston is to be forced downwardly in the cylinder, by means to be presently explained, for the purpose of raising a door 12.

The description so far relates to mechanism for operating one gate, and as two gates are shown in Fig. 1, it will be understood that a description of the mechanism for operating one of the gates will be substantially a duplicate of that for the other gate; hence, such description will enable one skilled in the art to practice the invention.

In the neseut embodiment of the invention, steam is supplied to the upper end of the cylinder 30 by the inlet or delivery pipe 33 which preferably has a check valve 3 1 opening inwardly. Steam is permitted to escape from the cylinder through the out let pipe 35 which has a check valve 36 opening outwardly, and the said pipes 33 and 35 are connected by a riser or header 37 leading from a valve casing 38. The cylinder 30 has a drain pipe 39 at its lower end which is intended for the escape of condensed moisture or steam which will find its way through the piston 32, as will pres ently appear.

The means for supplying steam to the cylinder 30 and exhausting the steam therefrom, includes the valve casing 38 to which the pipe 37 is connected; the said valve casing having an exhaust port 450 near one end and a valve seat 41 between its ends but beyond the point of juncture of the pipe 37 and the valve casing, from the point of location of the exhaust port. The valve casing. in the present embodiment of the invention, is sectional and the section 42 is secured to the main portion through means of fastenings 43, such as screws, and it is at the junction of the extension 42 and the main portion. of the valve casing that the valve seat 41 is located, as illustrated. A steam supply pipe 44. communicates with the outer-end of the extension 42 of the valve casing and serves to supply steam "for operating the piston. of the gate, as will presently appear.

lVi thin the extension 42 there is arranged. a valve 45 which is adapted to coact with the valve seat ll, and this valve has guidinn flanges 46 in spaced relation to each other, the peripheries of which are recessed to form ports 47 through which steam may pass from the steam supply pipe to the valve seat and through the valve seat, when the valve 45 is unseated, as will presently appear. The valve seat is further provided with a relatively small port 48 through which steam may leak to an extentwhieh will serve to maintain the operating parts of the gate operating mechanism to such temperatures as will prevent the freezing of the parts, and to effect the circulation of the steam through the parts which are apt to become frozen. The piston 32 is likewise provided with a longitudinally extending port -l-.9 which will permit the steam to pass therethrough to the drain pipe. The alve 4.15 has a valve stem 50 which pro jects through the casing to a point opposite the exhaust port 40, and the said valve casing 38 is further provided with a piston 51 which is 'slidable to close the port 40 and to abut the valve stem 50, forthe purpose of unseating the valve 45, it being understood that whenthe port 40 is closed and the valve is opened, steam will be admitted. and delivered to the pipe 37 where it will be effective to operate the piston 32. The rod 52 operates through a stuffing box 53 and it is connected to the piston 51. The opposite end of this rod 52 is connected to a sliding block 5 1 operating in a guide 55 under the influence of pressure imparted to it, by reason of the engagement of the antifriction roller 56 mounted in the end of the sliding member. with a shoe 11 of a mine car. so that as the mine car approaches the location of the door operating mechanism, the shoe thereof will force the sliding member outwardly from the car, whereas when the car leaves the location of the operating mechanism and releases the sliding member, the pressure of steam within the valve casing will serve to move the piston 50 from the port to the position which it is shown to occupy in Fig. 4, and this movement will cause a release of the pressure through the port 40 and cause the pressure of the steam to seat the valve 45, a condition which will relieve thepressure from the door operating piston, and these parts will retain positions until the sliding member is again operated.

From an inspection of the drawing it will be apparent that when. the door is closed, the piston 32 is at the top of the cylinder 30. and that when steam is admitted to the pipe through the unseating oi the valve and the closing ofthe port 40, steam will act to force the piston 32' downwardly to the position which it is shown to occupy in Fig. 1. The momentum oi: these moving parts is cushioned and arrested by the action of the piston 24 in. the cylinder 20. Upon the release of pressure within. the pipe 37, the weight of the door will. cause it to descend, since its weight will overcome the pressure Within the cylinder 30, and as the check valve 34 opens inwardly and'is effective to check back-flow through it, the piston 32 will compress the air or steam which remains in the cylinder 30 after the said piston 32 passes the outlet pipe 35, and this will serve to cushion the downward movement of the door and arrest it prior to the time it strikes the bottom of its course. By reason of the provision of these parts and their relation to one another, the door is cushioned while moving in either direction, and while moving to a closed position, the door elevating means is relied upon as the cushioning agent, so that said operating means has the dual function just described.

The valve casing 38 is mounted on a plate 57 having a depending apertured lug 5S, and this plate has longitudinal y extending slots 59 which form clearances for the studs 0 which extend through the base plate 61, thereby making it possible to move the plate 51'' on the base plate through the medium of the adjusting screw 62 which is rotatable .in the depending lug 58 and threaded in a depending lug 63 carried by the base plate. By means of the screw, the plate 57 may be held at different positions of adjustment on'the base plate.

In the description the term door has been employed in connection with the guarding means at the floor landings, which element is sometimes termed a gate, particularly in mine constructions, but these terms are synonymous, and it is to be understood that the terms are so employed in this case.

I claim:

1. In a mine shaft, a door for guarding the shaft, means for mounting the door for movement vertically, a cylinder extending downwardly above the door, a piston operating therein, a piston rod connected to the said piston and to the door, a flexible member connected to the door and guided thereabove, a piston rod to which the flexible member is connected, a piston carried by the said rod, a cylinder in which the piston operates, and inlet pipe communicating with the cylinder near its top, an outlet pipe connnunicating with the cylinder between its ends, a valve casing, a pipe extending from the valve casing and communicating with the first mentioned pipes, a valve seat associated with the valve casing, the said valve casing having an exhaust port, a piston slidable in the valve casing and adapted to close the port, a valve stem projecting from the valve into the path of travel of the port controlling piston, whereby the valve is unseated when the exhaust port is closed, means for supplying pressure through the valve to the interior of the valve casin a check valve in the inlet pipe opening inwardly, a check valve in the outlet pipe opening outwardly, and means carried by a mine car for moving the piston within the valve casing.

2, In combination with a mine shaft door, a flexible member connected thereto, means for guiding the flexible member above the door, a piston rod to which the flexible member is connected, a piston connected to the rod, a cylinder in which the piston and rod reciprocate, a pressure delivery pipe communicating with the cylinder near its top, an outlet pipe communicating with the cylinder between its ends, a valve casing having an exhaust port, a pipe communicating with the interior of the valve casing and with the pipes, a valve for controlling pressure to the valve casing, a valve stem projecting therefrom, a piston in the valve casing operative to close the exhaust port and press the valve stem for opening the valve, means actuated by an elevator car for moving the piston. a check valve in the delivery pipe opening inwardly, a check valve in the outlet pipe opening outwardly, and means for cushioning the upward movement of'the shaft door.

3. In combination with a mine shaft door, :1 fl xible member connected thereto, means for guiding the flexible member above the door, a piston rod towhich the flexible member is connected, a piston connected to the rod, a cylinder in which the piston and rod reciprocate, a pressure delivery pipe communicating with the cylinder near its top, an outlet pipe communicating with the cylinder between its ends, a valve casing having an exhaust port, a pipe communicating with the interior of the valve casing and with the pipes, a valve for controlling pressure to the valve casing, a piston in the valve casing operative to close the exhaust port and open the valve, means actuated by an elevator car for moving the piston, a check valve in the delivery pipe opening inwardly, a check valve in the outlet pipe opening outwardly, and means for cushioning the upward movement of the shaft door.

at. In combination with a mine shaft door, means for mounting the door for vertical movement, a flexible member connected thereto. means above the door for guiding the flexible member, a piston rod to which the flexible member is connected, a piston connected to the piston rod, a cylinder in which the piston and piston rod are slidable, a valve casing in communication with the cylinder, a valve seat therein, a valve for engaging the valve seat, the said valve seat having a steam passage therein, the piston having a steam passage therein, means associated with the valve casing for controlling the delivery of steam to the cylinder,

and means associated with the valve casing for controlling the exhaust of steam to the cylinder.

5. In combination with a mine shaft door, means for mounting the door for vertical movement, a flexible member connected thereto, means above the door for guiding the flexible member, a piston rod to which the flexible member is connected, a piston connected to the piston rod, a cylinder in which the piston and piston rod are slidable, a valve casing in communication with the cylinder, a valve seat therein, a valve for engaging the valve seat, the said valve seat having a steam passage therein, the piston having a steam passage therein, means associated with the valve casing for controlling the delivery of steam to the cylinder, means associated with the valve casing for controlling the exhaust of steam to the cylinder, means for cushioning the action of the piston within the cylinder, and means for cushioning the upward movement of the door,

6. In combination with a mine shaft door, means for mounting the door for vertical movement, a flexible member connected thereto, means above the door for guiding the flexible member, a piston rod to which the flexible member is mounted, a piston thereon, a cylinder in which the piston rod is slidable, means for admitting pressure to the top of the cylinder and checking its escape, means therebelow communicating with the cylinder for exhausting pressure and preventing its return, whereby the piston is forced downwardly and is cushioned as it returns. I

7. In combination with a mine shaft door, means for mounting the door for vertical movement, a flexible member connected thereto, means above the door for guiding the flexible member, a piston rod to which the flexible member is mounted, a piston thereon, a cylinder in which the piston rod is'slidable, means for admitting pressure to the top of the cylinder and checking its cscape, means therebelow communicating with the cylinder for exhausting pressure and preventing its return, whereby the piston is forced downwardly and is cushioned as it returns, and means associated with the door for cushioning its upward movement.

HARRY F. KOHLER. 

